Mr America
by Jyoti
Summary: He could handle saying goodbye to his family, to Ben and his family, and to all of his other friends. But he wasn't sure if he could handle saying goodbye to Alice. Because as much as he pushed her away, and as much as he didn't want to admit it. Alice was and would always be his first love. One-Shot.


**Mr. America**

Henry Miller stared at himself in the mirror and smiled. In just a few weeks he would be shipped off to a military camp and he would began his training there. For the first time in a long time, Henry was proud of what he was doing. He was going to be fighting for his country. He was going to make something out of his life. It wasn't a secret that his parents never thought much of him. He didn't always get the best grades, and he was never really involved in school. His parents thought that he was going nowhere in life, and sometimes he thought that too, but as he looked at himself now, he was proud, and above all he was sure. He was sure that the decision he was making was the right one.

At first he didn't know if he would be able to handle it. How could you handle seeing someone get shot? How could you handle all the bad things that were going to happen? Most people said that you would be changed forever, and Henry understood that. But he also realized that he was strong. He had always thought of himself as fragile and weak. He thought he wouldn't be able to handle seeing anyone get killed, or that he wouldn't be able to handle the fact that people were going to try to kill him. And there was always the question of war, what if they went into war?

But then he thought about his high-school years and he realized that he was able to handle a lot of things that most high-school students couldn't. He was able to handle his best friend pursuing a pregnant girl. He was able to handle his best friend becoming a father in high-school, and he handled his best-friend losing his daughter as best as he could. In a lot of ways, Ben had made him stronger.

There were a lot of things that he regretted. He regretted hurting Ben, and not being there for him because Ben had always been a good friend to him. He regretted trying to be with Dylan. He regretted sleeping with Adrian. And he **really **regretted hurting Alice.

Alice.

That was the one thing that he wasn't sure he could handle. He could handle saying goodbye to his family, to Ben and his family, and to all of his other friends. But he wasn't sure if he could handle saying goodbye to Alice. Because as much as he pushed her away, and as much as he didn't want to admit. Alice was and would always be his first love.

Alice was the diamond in the rough. And he had thrown her away for rocks and pebbles. He felt terribly about it, but he knew that it was for the best. Alice deserved better, Henry thought.

He heard the doorbell ring and he wondered who was there. His parents and his two brothers had gone out but Henry wasn't in the mood for Chinese food so he stayed at home. He made his way downstairs and walked over towards the door. He opened the door slowly and standing there was someone that he hadn't quite expected.

It was Alice.

She still looked just as beautiful as she always did. Her dark hair fell down her shoulders and she was wearing a dark blue dress that reached her knees. He assumed that she had been out already, and she was just stopping by to say hi.

"Alice...What are you doing here?"

"I just came back from a little party with Ben, Adrian, and some other people. May I come in?"

"Uh...Yeah sure, of course."

He let her inside and she smiled as she walked in the house. He had to stop himself from staring at her. She was so beautiful, he thought. But then he shook the thought out of his head. He was leaving. There was no point in torturing himself with romantic thoughts of his ex-girlfriend.

"Remember in fourth grade when I came over your house and I wanted some ice-cream and so I tried to get myself some and I spilled it all over the kitchen floor?" Alice asked in a light-hearted tone.

Henry chuckled at this, "Yeah I remember. You blamed it on me and my mom spanked me with her shoe. I didn't talk to you for a week."

Alice laughed, "Or what about the time when we played tag inside the house and you hit your head on this wall?" She pointed to the wall that the couch was currently pushed up against."

Henry laughed at this too, "I remember that! You were so worried. You ended up getting me some ice and then we played doctor and you gave me a shot with a pencil. I had a lead mark on my arm and my dad asked me where I got that from. I said the doctor gave it to me."

Alice and Henry chuckled.

There was a brief silence, and then the tension filled the room again. The two of them stared at each other, and Henry could see that Alice's eyes were getting glossy.

"...We had a lot of memories here."

"Yeah...Yeah we did," Henry muttered.

There was that silence again.

Henry cleared his throat, "Not that I don't enjoy your company Alice but...What did you come over here for?"

Alice sighed, "I should have called...sorry. I just...I really wanted to talk to you about your decision to join the military."

Henry groaned, "Alice I've already made up my mind-"

"No, no I wasn't going to try and talk you out of it...I just wanted you to know that I support you."

Henry looked at her in shock, "You do?"

"Of course I do Henry...Even though I don't want to see you go...I support you because I love you."

"Alice-"

"And I know that you don't love me back Henry, I get that. But I just couldn't let you leave without you knowing exactly how I felt about you. I know that we've been through a lot. You hurt me, and maybe I hurt you too...But I still love you Henry, and I think I'll probably always love you. You'll always be my first. I'll never have the same memories with you that I'll have with other people. I know you're leaving and that things won't work out but I just wanted you to know that. And I think I needed to get it off my mind so that I could be happy. I'm really proud of you Henry."

Henry walked over towards her, and gave her a sad smile, "Thanks Alice."

"Sure..."

When Henry didn't say anything more Alice started talking again, "I guess that's it...I guess this is goodbye."

"Yeah...Yeah I guess so."

And then there was that intense stare again, but this time both of their eyes were watery, and Henry couldn't stop himself. He caressed her cheek gently, before pulling her into a kiss. Their lips locked together and it was all so familiar. Their hearts were racing, their kiss was needy, and it lasted much longer than either of them expected it to.

When they let go, he pulled her into a hug, and she couldn't help the tears that fell down her eyes. After everything that they had been through, it was hard to accept the fact that they were finally saying goodbye.

"I'm sorry for hurting you Alice. You never deserved that. You are an amazing woman and I hope you never forget that. This is just something that I need to do...I'll always love you too, no matter where we go in life. You're always going to be my first. There's no one else out there that's like you...But-"

"But we have to say goodbye...I know, I get it."

"Goodbye Alice," he said.

Alice smiled sadly at Henry, and then she kissed him one last time, "Goodbye Henry...And Henry?"

He looked up at her, "Yeah?"

"Keep in touch ok?"

Henry smiled, "Always."

**A/N: **I had to write this because it just didn't make sense to me how Henry suddenly stopped showing interests in her. And I really liked their quirky relationship in season 1. Thanks for reading!


End file.
